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Reynolds highlights enduring impact of high-quality pre-K programs

"Better pre-K leads to better schools," comments Arthur J. Reynolds, professor, Institute of Child Development and director of the Midwest Expansion of the Child-Parent Centers in the Human Capital Research Collaborative at the University of Minnesota in the Chicago Sun-Times on February 6.

"Hoping education reforms will produce lasting gains? The answer lies in addressing two fundamental performance gaps -- and not the usual gaps between rich and poor or black and white," says Reynolds. "They are gaps between a standard of excellence and actual performance."

Reynolds's research has shown that a comprehensive approach that includes high-quality early childhood education and a strong system of continuing services to strengthen gains to the fourth grade can go a long way to erasing both the school readiness and the reading proficiency gaps. The Child-Parent Education Centers (CPCs), originally developed in Chicago in the late 1960's, are currently being expanded in the Midwest, Reynolds goes on to say, because they have produced enduring impacts beyond preschool. Reynolds' commentary was also run in the February 15 Huffington Post.